An absorption spectroscopy instrument is provided with a re-injection
mirror to greatly increase the optical power coupled into an optical
cavity, comprised of two or more mirrors, for the purpose of increasing
the quality of absorption and extinction measurements made in the cavity.
Light reflected from the first cavity mirror upon which a light beam is
incident, can be efficiently collected and back reflected onto the same
mirror, effectively producing a plurality of optical injections into the
cavity. The instrument can be used for off-axis cavity ringdown
spectroscopy, off-axis integrated cavity output spectroscopy, or other
cavity-based spectroscopy applications.